“One day, I saw this dazzling darkness, and it devoured me. Then, I no longer existed.

We often tend to dream, expect, and imagine the things we wished we had. Dreaming is a catalyst for a better future. However, I see dreams in two different ways. One being that dreams give off a sense of motivation and the other that dreams create a sense of delusion within. As humans, our dreams block us from seeing the things that are right in front of us. Although dreams are meant to keep us alive, they also make us forget our existence and our purpose. In the end, our lack of awareness of our surroundings can drive us to forget who we really are.

The project, Dream, is a short film that is created based on a visual poem, “Lonely Wintry Moon,” which I wrote portraying myself losing my existence to follow this invisible dream.”

Dream.

Life is like a warm breeze that carries the redolent of spring, the colors that transmute the sky from dusk till dawn. Like a little chaste sprout that just pushed out the ground dauntlessly. A small water drop that just landed on a wild flower to tell its story from a long itinerary But I’m an indigent goldfish that is floundering helplessly in this tiny bowl enveloped by hollow plastic plants and just gazing at this beautiful world; a xanadu I can’t be a part of it.

I am a puddle on the street that reflects the blue sky and makes graceful ebb and flow of waves coalesced with the spring breeze.

but I’m merely a deserted puddle wandering aimlessly. Then a bleak, lonely wintry moon devoured my life. The life of warmth, beauty, love, and passion departed. Then, time stopped, everything lost its colors. It froze my heart and only the whiteness lingered in silence with me.

“Dreaming of Stones” is a new collection of poems written by Christine Valters Paintner and published by Paraclete Press.

“Connemara Illuminated” by Christine Valters Paintner

A poem is being scribed this morning across the thick brown bog andover the gashed granite folds of mountain,written in spires of gold descending from the wide bowl of sky across the breathing heather.

You have to pause to read it,long enough to hear beneath the relentless moan of wind where centuries of voices have whisperedtheir seeking, feasting, fasting, loving.

You know your singular alonenessand your place in a communion of stone and sea.

Even as the kestrel’s wings vibrate into the nightsending quills into the damp air,even as the skylarks and stonechats attend each day’s awakening like eager midwives,this empire of longing writes its script in fox tracks and memory.

If your life could be just a fraction of this poemyou would never need to utter another word.

“CONTACT” is a Cinematic Poem Animated Short Film Written And Directed By Alessandro Novelli.

Written, Animated and Directed by: Alessandro Novelli

For every yes,There were a thousand no’s.And, so while we were even asleep,We sent our dreams to other planets, And on to other stars.We were looking for a god, all the While incapable of finding our way.

“A woman looks for her place in New York City as she contemplates the meaning of “home.”

The City Odes Project is a passion project in which my composer and I will collaborate with a poet and an actor to create a humanist, emotional, and visual story amidst the backdrop of a particularly city. “In Between Words” is the first of many to come, and kicks off this series in the city I currently reside in – New York City. The narrative was birthed out of an eagerness to collaborate with Achiaa, my actress, who now lives in New York and is originally from Ghana. In speaking with her, I decided to pursue a story about someone searching for home; a woman who is figuring out if NYC is the place for her, who is coming to terms that she is 5,000 miles away from her original home in West Africa, and thus easing out tensions with her mother, who of course wants her to return. The final result here features the work of Lilian Mehrel – a fellow filmmaker and classmate of mine back at NYU Grad Film school – who captures these feelings through her words, and my frequent collaborator John Corlis – an LA-based musician and composer – who complements the poetry with his mixture of piano and strings.”

“In Between Words” by Lilian Mehrei

Where am I?Check the map. What’s a map, anyway? An alphabet. Spelling out spacesIn between words.

When you carve lines in a concrete jungle,The dust particles remain. They stainThe people with gritGlittering their teeth.

When I was little, my mother told meMy great-grandfather was the head of our tribe.What’s a tribe? I asked.He was like the king of our village, she told me.Are you the queen now? I asked.

Yes Queen, says a handsome woman walking by.

Excuse me, do you know which way is north?I squint up at the scrapers of the sky. They look down at their fireflies.

My eyes blink for a rest. I need to goUnderground.I enter the arteries To flow with bodies as one.Noon or midnight, there is no time here.

I balance, suspended halfway Between North and South.There is no fullness,There is no stillness.

I cross the street. I cross my heart.I cross my mother, one too many times.Why don’t you come home? She says.What is home? I say.There are too many people there, she says.There’s nobody to bother me, I say.

When it’s too muchI slip in the small spaces.

Can you find me on a map?Look, there – that eyelash that fell,Between 6th and 7th avenue, that’s me.

Where are you? My mother calls me.I’m on 6th and a half avenue, I say.What?

“#GreyWalls is a #videotry (Video+Poetry) film that is based on the complex slave trade and the Elmina Castle. “Bury me in the ocean with my ancestors, for they knew death was better than bondage” #Skytango #LemonDrone #Castle #Elmina #Slave #yearofreturn #slavetrade”

Elmina Castle is a white-washed Medieval Castle on the coast of Ghana. It was the first – and for many centuries – the largest, European building constructed in tropical Africa. Yet its grandeur, as well as its picturesque surroundings with blue skies, sandy beaches, and tropical palms, disguise a dark history – Elmina Castle was the last place that thousands of African slaves would ever see of their homeland. Many horrors transpired within the walls of the fortress, which have never been erased by time.

Excerpt of “Grey Walls” by Nana Nyarko Boateng

The ocean is bonded in freedomCrashing past into presentTelling of our futureLoudly, quietly.

These grey walls you seeExchange stories with the sea;Of faces in the skyAnd secrets in the water.

Invisible feet of guardsPatrol what has left us,What is left hereQuietly, endlessly.

“The 148th Open returns to Royal Portush, 14-21 July 2019. To kick off the celebrations, we’re unveiling this short cinematic film, produced by Martin Stalker, to celebrate just how far we’ve come as a leading tourist destination. Set to an original poem by local poet Paula Matthews, the film is narrated by leading actors Ian McElhinney, Bronagh Waugh, Saoirse-Monica Jackson and Shaun Blaney. The film is accompanied by an original score composed and performed by Belfast-born virtuoso pianist, Michael McHale.”

Excerpts from “We’ve Come A Long Way” by Paula Matthew

A new day dawnsSo walk the courseYou Know the spotLine up the shotDrive through dark hedgesInto the light.

Sunrise where giants make their homeAnd castles half-fallen into the seaEmerge again in technicolorFor the whole world.

Past the home place for the laureatesPicking blackberries, pealing spots.Digging deep into our cultureAnd the cracks great.

Meta

An Important Emerging Creative Short Film Genre.

"...underneath the young gray dawn,
a multitude of dense, white fleecy clouds,
were wandering in thick flocks along the mountains,
shepherded by the slow, unwilling wind." From "Prometheus Unbound" by Percy Bysshe Shelley